Hi Everyone,
For those who own a Microsoft Surface Pro 4, I was wondering what your overall opinion of it was? Would you purchase it again or would you opt for something different and why? Is the detachable keyboard annoying? Would you classify it more in the laptop or tablet category? I am considering purchasing one and have mixed mindsets about it at this point in time.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
I have a SP3. Essentially, very happy with it… but definitely consider it more in the laptop than tablet category.
They keyboard cover is fine, other than you need a place like a desk to put it. If you want to work where you're not at a desk, a conventional laptop would work better.
The battery life isn't great - 4 hours typically. Like another poster - never used it in tablet mode so that's kind of a waste (but I still have an ipad which gets used in tablet mode - maybe if i didn't have the ipad i would use tablet mode more)
I use it for web development. Does most things well but it's very difficult and uncomfortable to use on your lap. For this reason alone my next machine probably won't be a Surface. Same as other users never use tablet mode or the pen. I use the touchscreen a bit for mobile development but not as much as I thought I would.
I think it really depends on what you're going to use it for before you can measure how much value you can get out of it. I find it quite great for keeping lecture notes together especially for a math heavy course as I can't type math as fast as I can write it. I use it mainly in tablet mode so I can use this feature but outside of the pen, I wouldn't think there would be too many benefits of owning the device.
The detachable keyboard is good but for usage on lap or short tables lengths, it can get a little uncomfortable with the kickstand. A conventional hinge as any other laptop or the surface book would be much better in this aspect.
It definitely feels more like a laptop than a tablet. While I am happy with it, I probably wouldn't buy another surface until the battery life is closer to the advertised amount. It's very inconvenient but there aren't better alternatives with pen input.
I use a SP4 i5 256GB SSD 8GB RAM with Keyboard cover, Surface Dock and dual screens. This is my primary productivity machine and I use it every business day for about 3 hrs docked and about 3 hrs off the dock.
Good Points:
Bad Points (Both Minor issues)
Regarding your question about the keyboard. The magnets are quite strong and I have never had it unintentionally disconnect from the tablet. If you plan on putting a case on the device then make sure you get one that allows folding of the keyboard cover behind the tablet. I use the Incipio Feather Hybrid. This automatically disables the keyboard and prevents input from the keyboard while it is folded under the device.
Overall I recommend this system. I would steer clear of 128GB SSD devices though.
I have a 128gb i5 4gb ram surface pro 4. Overall, happy with it. Used primarily in tablet mode. In my opinion, the screen is a couple of inches too small to be used regularly as a laptop replacement. But occasionally I do use it as a laptop. Bought it to replace an iPad I got from my university. My course required alot of note taking and the 9.7inch iPad we got was too small for me. Plus the 9.7inch iPad didnt come with an active stylus. Tried a few passive styluses and wasn't happy with them. The full size usb port and approximately 2yr battery life of the pen were the reasons I went over this instead of the iPad pro. The iPad pro did have a strong point of having lots of apps but since I only needed one app for note taking, I went for the surface pro 4 instead.
I bought the sp3 keyboard when they were on sale for like $40 when it was posted here a while ago as I knew I wasn't going to use the keyboard much and didn't want to spend 200 on the sp4 keyboard. Great typing experience. However after a couple of months, the seam on the keyboard near the magnets started to open up as it was regularly folded behind. I tried the sp4 keyboard once and the trackpad is much smoother on it compared to the kind of matte finish on the sp3 keyboard trackpad.
As geek001 mentioned above, it was very buggy when I first bought it. Very rarely did it wake up successfully from sleep. But this was fixed some time mid last year for me.
I was getting 6-7hrs of battery life though it varied alot depending on what I was doing on it.
I might jump into the conversation and ask a few q's
I think the SP4 is my next go to.
I particularly want something for travel. I have an iPad at the moment which is fine for sending emails and consuming media,
But I need something where I can adequately use my internet based CRM and review/edit Micrsoft Word/Excel
I won't need it every day - so for home time it probably will be an ipad replacement. But I need something when I spend a few weeks on the road - that I can create data - not just read it.
It seems to me that the battery issue and "lap" issue won't be problems for me as I will always have a desk/table and a power source handy (ie plane or hotel).
Anyone see any issues I might have? or a better alternative?
I use it mostly for typing, if I had to do it again, I would probably have picked an ultrabook with a larger screen. I don't think I have used it as a tablet. Compared to other Windows tablets, it has a full sized usb, which is a big plus. The only very cool about it is the camera, which logs me in when I sit in front of it. There were quite a few bugs with it when I first got it, I think Microsoft has ironed out most of it now.